The renovations at the historic Hotel Viking in downtown Newport are not only a professional matter to Marlen Scalzi, but a personal one. After all, Scalzi, the hotel’s director of sales and marketing, grew up in the Viking until she was 17.
Her father, Len Scalzi, was general manager from the end of World War II until 1970, and he believed in staying competitive by giving people what they want, she said. In the 1960s, for example, tapping into the car culture, he developed a type of “drive-in” check-in.
Today, she said, the hotel is again responding to its guests’ wishes, this time with $6.8 million in renovations that began last November and are now nearly complete.
“It’s kind of like carrying on my father’s legacy here, which is great,” she said.
Most of the project has focused on redesigning and renovating rooms in the nearly 81-year-old hotel’s original Viking Wing, set to reopen later this month. In addition, 12 “Mansion Suites” were created in that wing, named and themed after a dozen Newport mansions.
Scalzi said the work has been extensive – it encompassed four floors – and the renovation was actually like a restoration. For example, the Mansion Suites will have Oriental rugs, hand-carved headboards and hardwood or marble floors.
The project is reducing the number of rooms, because some were combined to make suites. While before, there were 79 rooms in the Viking Wing, now there will be 66 larger ones (the hotel has a total of 209 rooms). Scalzi said the hope is that less will mean more, since guests will pay a premium for the suites.
The Viking Wing overhaul is the latest of several upgrades to the hotel, which is owned by LaSalle Hotels of Bethesda, Md., and is managed by Noble House Hotels, based in Seattle. In 2003, the hotel added a new ballroom and a spa at a cost of $5 million.
And why should the Hotel Viking – Newport’s oldest hotel, recognized by the Historic Hotels of America and once a host to John and Jacqueline Kennedy – continue to add, upgrade and renovate?
In a word, business, Scalzi said. The market is so competitive that upgrades were necessary to keep attracting guests.
Kathryn Farrington, vice president of tourism marketing for the Newport County Convention and Visitor’s Bureau, said the Viking faces competition from three other hotels in the downtown Newport area: the Newport Hyatt Regency Hotel and Spa, the Newport Harbor Hotel and Marina, and the Newport Marriott. All three hotels have undergone or are slated to undergo renovations.
Last year, the Newport Marriott spent $14 million on guest room renovations. This November, the Newport Hyatt will spend a minimum of $23 million on projects such as renovating 264 guest rooms, according to Farrington.
Ted Schroeder, general manager of the Newport Harbor Hotel and Marina, said the competition is tough, but it is good. In fact, Schroeder said, when he learns what other hotels are doing, he makes sure his corporate office in State College, Pa., is aware of it too. (Newport Harbor Hotel and Marina is owned by the Shaner Group.)
Farrington said competition is fierce among the four hotels. She said renovations are costly but necessary because they contribute to visitors’ experiences. She added that it is all in an effort to keep up with fresh looks and the desire never to take their travelers for granted.
“Thank God we’re in a destination where owners understand the benefit of renovations,” Farrington said.
